KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Astronaut James McDivitt, who commanded the Apollo 9 mission which tested the first complete set of equipment to go to the moon, graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 1947.
Just 18 years later in 1965, he commanded the Gemini 4 mission where he became the first-ever NASA rookie to command a mission.
In 1969, McDivitt then went onto commanding Apollo 9, which was a 10-day shakeout mission that involved testing the Apollo Lunar Module. Four months after his mission, NASA would successfully land humans on the moon.
He passed on his chance to land on the moon and instead became the space agency’s program manager for five Apollo missions after the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Before all of this, McDivitt joined the Air Force at age 20, soon after the Korean War broke out where he would go onto flying 145 combat missions and eventually attaining the rank of brigadier general before leaving the military in 1972.
He passed away in Tucson Arizona on Thursday, October 13th, at age 93.
The Kalamazoo Air Zoo’s Career and Technical Education Classroom in the Flight Discovery Center is proudly named after him.
